Jacob . C . Clark Josie Tierney-Fife English 9 Standard 20 march 2012.
THE STRANGE AND ODD LIFE OF NIKOLA TESLA.
On December 12, 1901, the world was awoken to the news that Guglielmo Marconi (“the man that invented the radio”) had signaled the letter "S" across the Atlantic from Cornwall, England to Newfoundland and back again, because of this event that had taken place, J.P. Morgan, who had been paying for his projects, stopped funding Tesla all together. This was the worst thing that could have happened, in fact at the time Tesla was certain that he could create a electrical power transmission without wires. This project, called “The world system”, Tesla explained would be able to send up electrical currents to earth’s atmosphere and then circle the earth with a thick layer of electrical power, in which anyone could take electricity freely without harm or trouble. Before he could test this on a full scale it was shut down. Put to shame and vanquished, Tesla had a few nervous breakdowns. He stated "It is not a dream." He promised "It is a simple feat of scientific electrical engineering, only expensive... blind, faint-hearted, doubting world."
As a boy Tesla lived in a small black house in Serbia on a very vast plain near the mountains. At age 9 he climbed up on the edge of the barn's roof with wooden bird wings that were tied to his small arms. Upon jumping off and attempting to fly, he landed and almost broke an arm, and his legs. When his mother saw from the house she ran out, picked him out and took him off to bed.
Childhood obsession
Nikola was born at precisely midnight between July 9th and 10th in the 1856. Nikola’s father was a Serbian Orthodox Priest and Tesla’s mother was a farmer. Nikola was the fourth child out of all five that his parents had together. Growing up on the family farm, his father discouraged Nikola from reading as a child. At age six he constructed a small waterwheel which strangely was nothing like waterwheels of that day in age in 1862. The same waterwheel, he later looked back on and used as a inspiration for his “unique blade-less turbine design.” He also worked on many other strange prototypes of machines such as another one he built which was a june bug powered motor. Some nights he enjoyed sneaking into his fathers library to read books. In 1863 he discovered a book that would forever change his life, this book was called Abafi or Son of Aba. He later talked about this book with a fellow colleague, Tesla stated that the book somehow awoke him and gave him self-control. A basic thing he started with was for example, if he had an item of food that he wanted badly such as a candy bar, he would give it away to someone else. After doing this and working your way up to more important things, you could gain a great deal of self control. As he described “After some years of that discipline, I completely controlled myself so that I could play with the passions that might destroy even the strongest man”
Daniel his older brother, who died in a horse accident was the Tesla family favorite. Nikola was always compared to Daniel by his family. Nikola also suffered from nightmares and hallucinations that had to do with the death of his brother Daniel. Some scholars believe Nikola’s phobias and obsessions are a direct result of Daniel’s death. Through his life he was obsessed with many things such as earrings, mostly pearls. glitter Jewelry and sharp-planed facets also intrigued him. When walking he always counted his steps. He oddly tried to cube the contents of his food, When he failed to do this he was not able to enjoy the meal. He never touched other peoples hair or shook hands with any one. Some scholars believe he had a very strange case of OCD (Obsessive–compulsive disorder).
Tesla mentioned at a young age that he began to have odd visions. In one such vision he got a vigorous headache and saw blurry pictures of a great water fall plummeting down over rocks and that made a considerable amount of mist. After a few seconds he fell to the ground and passed out. This in fact happened on several other occasions. He had said that he had many other visions that had to do with strange things and odd people, but never really stated anything else.
Becoming a man of science.
Tesla began his college education at Graz Polytechnic Institutes in1875. The one topic that fascinated him above all others was electricity. He was an astoundingly stunning student who regularly angered his professors by questioning their intelligence. He went against the acceptance of his class mates and even the college, because they were in favor of using direct current (DC) as the means of delivering electrical power. It was easy for him to see that (DC) was inefficient and incapable and that it left much to be desired. (DC) transmits power over short distances, and Tesla knew there had to be a better way of transmitting power. In France at that time there was talk of an unproven"alternating current (AC)" system, but no one had been able to figure out how to make it work. (AC) was frowned upon as a discouraging topic by the scientific field at that time. Tesla's suggestion of alternating current brought contempt in his lecture halls, but he was never lead off the path or discouraged enough to quit on (AC). In Tesla's mid sophomore year of college, his father had a very serious stroke. Nikola returned home quickly, and his father died soon after. Tesla never returned to the Polytechnic Institute after. Not having any funds for tuition, he took a job at a government telegraphing office. Although Tesla lost faith because of his interrupted education, he kept the his dream of becoming an electrical pioneer alive.
While Tesla was dealing with the depressing fact of his fathers death and his lack of proper education, he was also contemplating alternating current (AC). Whatever its cause, when Tesla finally emerged from the sad and depressing state he was in, he was armed with a powerful new awareness on how alternating current “AC” could be successfully gained and used. Armed with this great knowledge Tesla went to Paris France and began working at “la Société Edison Electric” in 1882. That very year he discovered the rotating magnetic field witch was one of the greatest discoveries in history. On a chilly day in February, 1882, Nikola Tesla was with a friend walking through a city park in in the city of Budapest in Hungary. It was getting late and the sun was setting. When he suddenly saw the solution for the rotating magnetic field flash through his mind. He said “At this very moment, he saw clearly in his mind an iron rotor spinning rapidly in a rotating magnetic field, produced by the interaction of two alternating currents out of step with each other.” This “flash of genius” became the first induction motor. The summer of 1883, Tesla was working in Strasburg in France, where he built his first actual induction motor and saw it run. Tesla's AC (alternating current) induction motor is widely used throughout the world in industry and household appliances such as drills, any type of mixers, early types of cars, small toys, and fans, the list of things that the induction motor is in. could go on for ever. When Tesla invented the Induction motor he was working for Charles Batchelor. Soon there after Batchelor got a letter from Thomas Edison himself, saying that Tesla was invited to come and work at the Edison Company in America. Once Tesla arrived in America Edison had him begin working 10:30 am to 5:00 am the next morning, seven days a week. Tesla did not believe in Edison's direct current (DC) power or his motors, but he worked hard to improve them. When Tesla came over to America he was sent with a small letter that Charles Bathchelor wrote, it read “I know two great men, one is you and the other is this young man.” when Tesla came to work for Edison, he told Tesla if he could improve his machines, that he would give him a bonus of $50,000. Tesla worked through day and night because the $50,000 would let him set up his own lab, so he could work on the machines that he lived for. He came up with twenty-four new designs to replace the old ones of Edition's. Edison was amazed with the results but did not pay Tesla the $50,000 he had promised. When Tesla finally asked him about it, Edison told him, "Tesla, you don't understand our American humor." This is when and why Tesla left the Edison Company.
War of the currents.
A Pittsburgh industrialist named George Westinghouse, who was the inventor of railroad air brakes. had heard about Tesla's inventions and how he had wanted to use alternating current and thought it could be the missing thing that long-distance power needed. On the night of 1890 George Westinghouse rode to Tesla’s home and gave him an offer, He stated he would purchase all of Tesla’s patents to date for $60,000. Westinghouse also agreed to pay $2.50 per horsepower of electrical volume sold. Tesla had more inventions in mind, so he quickly spent half of the money on a new laboratory.
With Tesla's great work and patents, a giant industrial war had flared up. The future of electrical engineering and industrial evolution was at stake. Whether Nikola’s alternating current (AC) or Edison's direct current (DC) would be the chosen one.
Edison at this time launched a propaganda war against alternating current. Westinghouse recalled: “I remember Edison telling them that direct current was like a river flowing peacefully to the sea, while alternating current was like a torrent rushing violently over a precipice.” Edison even had a professor named Harold Brown working for him, he went around talking to audiences of people and electrocuting dogs and old horses right infornt of crowds of people on a stage. His reasons was to show the dangers of alternating current (AC).
Meanwhile, a 40 year old man was being convicted of murder and was going to be the the first person executed with electricity in history. This was to take place at New York's Auburn State Prison. Edison had successfully purchased a used Westinghouse generator and convinced the prison to use it in order to show the extreme danger of alternating current. The man William Kemmler, a convicted ax-murderer, died a horrible death on August 6, 1890 from electrical shock. Because of this, electrical execution became known as "Westinghousing."
In spite of bad of bad press, good things were occurring for Westinghouse and Tesla. Westinghouse and Tesla got the chances to light The Chicago World's Fair. This was the first fair powered by electricity. This fair was also named “the Columbian Exposition” In celebration of Columbus discovering America.
The Columbian Exposition opened on May 1, 1893 President Grover Cleveland pulled a lever and hundreds of thousands of lamps lit the fairground's. “This City of Light was the work of the great electrical engineer... Nikola Tesla!” said President Grover Cleveland to the enormous crowds of people. In the Great Hall of Electricity, Tesla’s alternating current (AC) power generation and transmission were cheerfully displayed. For the twenty seven million people who came to the fair, it was clear that (AC) was the power of the future. AThat point on 80 percent of all electrical devices made or manufactured in the United States used alternating current (AC.)
The great power of Niagara.
When settlers first came to America, the pioneers had a dream of turning Niagara falls into a working power mill but never did. The earliest sawmill had been constructed there in 1725. Since Tesla’s childhood, he had dreamed of harnessing the capability of the great water fall. And near the end of 1893, his fantasy became real, when Westinghouse was given the honor to create an electrical mill.
The Niagara Falls project got charged with planning the power project, at that time the Niagara falls project planner got offers from all around the world only to reject them all. They ranged from different systems using odd types of water pressure, to one that used ropes and pulleys and others using springs. There were also offers to transmit DC electricity, which were presented by Edison himself. At the head of the team was Lord Kelvin. A very famous physicist from England, who had disliked alternating current (AC). But when he had gone to the Chicago Exposition that had all changed. Now that they had a strong team to make people want to build with alternating current (AC), Kelvin and the Niagara falls project asked Tesla and Westinghouse to use alternating current to harness the power of the falls.
When the construction period was happening it was very stressful for the engineers, mechanics and workers building it. Because of them leaning mostly on investors they had a lot of money to go around. The men backing this Project included many of the wealthiest men in America and Europe at this time,some of which were: J. P. Morgan, John Jacob Astor, Lord Rothschild, and W. K. Vanderbilt. After five year stress, the project finally was completed. Tesla did not have one bit of uncertainty in the results of the final completed dam for a moment. The men that were investing did not think at all that the system would work. While Tesla knew the machines were running smoothly, they were still unproven and very expensive.
In spite of the worries of the investors the growth of Tesla’s work grow greater. As the switch was flicked on the turbines beganto roar, soon after the first power coming out of Niagara Falls dam reached Buffalo at 12:27 Am, November 16, 1896. The Niagara Falls Gazette recalled the day after this saying, "The turning of a switch in the big powerhouse at Niagara completed a circuit which caused the Niagara River to flow uphill." The first 1,000 horsepower of electrical voltage moving to Buffalo was used by the street railway company. The local power company already had orders from residents for five thousand more horsepower. In a short amount of time the number of Niagara Falls power generators had quickly reached the planned ten, and a large amount of power lines were lighting the streets of New York City. Broadway street was aflame with lights; the under ground railways were moving faster then ever. Edison’s (DC) systems was quickly changed to alternating current. (AC)
The “war of currents” as it was called, had dire consequences for Westinghouse and General Electric, both were in horrible debt. The Edison Company “General Electric” bought out Westinghouse and saved both companies from financial ruin. A man named Robber Barons, was becoming known in the USA and was starting to become big, so J. P. Morgan made his move and became partners Barons. Hoping to bring more hydroelectric power planets to the U.S., J. P. Morgan planned to try and buy Westinghouse and Tesla’s patents. But thanks in part to Tesla, this did not happen.
Westinghouse was facing huge financial burdens at this time and therefore was forced to ask Tesla to release him from his obligation of $2.50 for every horsepower created with (AC). In a rather kind way Tesla tore up the contract and said that he was, after all, very grateful to the one man who had believed in his invention. Tesla also knew that great inventions would lay ahead. The Westinghouse Electric Company split away from GE and went back to work. From this point on Tesla would face financial difficulties until his death.
Strange times.
At the turn of the 20th century Tesla thought he could transfer large amounts of electricity into the air. His patent lawyer, and a close friend, Leonard E. Curtis, who was very interested in Tesla’s work wanted to see this happen. So he happily found land that Tesla could work on, and deiced to supply a large amount of a steady stream enginery for the research for Tesla. The plot of land was located in Colorado Springs. Meanwhile a supporter of Tesla and his inventions, Colonel Astor, came forward and gave $30,000 to kick start to the project. This was what Tesla needed, he moved to Colorado and begin building a new experimental station for the secret project. This station was located on Pikes Peak. Joining Tesla in this electrical engineering adventure were a dozen assistants which weren’t totally informed of the Tesla’s plans.
He Arrived in the little town of Colorado Springs in May 1899, Tesla went to inspect the land mass and how large it would be. It was a few miles out of town in the prairie, on top of a large hill with a rocks and a wooded area. He told reporters that he was plaining to send a radio signal with the words (a better world), from his lab at Pikes Peak all the way to Paris France, but did not state any thing else. Soon after Tesla found that the earth to be quite alive with electrical pluses. Because of this Nikola came to believe that when a current, such as lightning, strikes the ground it puts out powerful waves that move from one side of the earth to the other. In other terms he thought that the earth was a great conductor, Tesla’s hypothesis was that he could transmit unlimited amounts of power into the air or pretty much any other place on the earth and people could take it with out no loss in power. To test his theory about this he’d be the first man to ever create electrical currents with full scale man made lighting.
His laboratory, that had more then three floors, with one floor just for wires, was very strange looking and also weird, a roundish roof that was made to prevent it from catching fire, and a very large wooden tower that was eighty feet or more in height. At the top of all of this madness was 142 foot metal mast that was supporting a very large copper ball. Inside this was one of the largest Tesla Coils ever made, it was designed to send large amounts of powerful electrical pulses into the earth. To top it off the copper ball sat gleaming at the top of the building.
On the night of the first experiment each of piece of work tools were slowly checked for anything that was wrong. Then Tesla went and fetched his mechanic, Czito, then mechanic would pull the lever for only one second. The secondary coil from across the room began to spark, and blue lighting erupted and wavy lights formed in the air around it. Tesla became very pleased with the result he’d gotten.
He told Czito to pull the lever down until told otherwise, then after a few minutes he’d turn it back on, as soon as this happen huge arcs of blue electricity shot out of all the coils in the room. Upon the top of the station giant lightning bolts of man made lightning more than a hundred feet long had shot out from the copper ball at the top of the lab. The experiment
had burned out the El Paso Electric Company and made the whole city lose power. The manager of the power station was very angry, and told Tesla that he’d have to pay for and repairs and the damages had to be fixed.
For the next nine months Tesla kept doing experiments at Colorado Springs. He also had kept a daily diary on the facts and things that he’d been doing there and at that time. Also the diary was written in great detail. Although the experiments and their results of the testing have never been answered. So there is still one question floating around out there: Did Tesla actually transmit wireless power at Pikes Peak? Well...there was a report that one night he transmitted a signal of power a very long way, about 40 miles. This was so powerful that the light from it would have been visibly for 6 miles.
Another power source that Tesla pursued was to send off very low frequency signals between the surface of the earth and the ionosphere or space . Tesla said that the frequency of this area was around eight-hertz. Until the late 1950s this “idea” was never really taken seriously, but some researchers had tired a few times. To researcher’s surprise the frequency of this layer was truthfully the range of eight-hertz.
The third thing he wanted to do was transmit wireless power such as electrical power, and shoot it up 80-kilometers above the earth, this area is known as the ionosphere. Tesla thought that the higher region of the atmosphere would be highly conductive for electrical power, he was correct. What he needed was the means to send electrical power to such a high altitude.
One very late night in his laboratory, alone writing plans, Tesla start to pick up a very slow repeating signal then it started to gain speed, he thought it was picking up an signal from space, specifically Mars or an alien race from an odd planet. Tesla was sadly laughed at the public when he announced this discovery, but it is very possible that he was the very first man to ever to detect radio waves from space.
A large amount of mystery still hangs over Tesla's trip to Colorado Springs. From his notes its not clear what how he wanted to exactly transmit wireless power. It is very clear from news letters and papers that when he came back to New York City, he was sure he could make it happen.
A tower of a visionary man.
As soon as Tesla had got back from Colorado Springs he wrote an amazing article for Century Magazine. In the article he wrote weirdly, talking about tapping into the sun's energy with an antenna. He stated that it was very possible to control the weather currents with electrical energy. He said that he thought about machines in the later years of humanity, that would make war with people. Saying that we’d have a global system of wireless communications. Most people that read this article said it to be unimaginable, but Tesla was a man who could not be underrated.
This strange and odd article got to the eyes of a very powerful man, J. P. Morgan. Tesla became a frequent guest at Morgan's home in New York, where Tesla told him about things that could only be science fiction. Such as something Tesla called "world system", “a way to send wireless communications across the ocean. Something to broadcast news, music, stock market reports, private messages, and even pictures to any part of the world you chose to send it too. "When wireless is fully applied, the earth will be converted into a huge brain, capable of response in every one of its parts," Tesla stated to J. P. Morgan
Tesla was offered $150,000 to build a large broadcast tower and a power plant. Even though a realistic sum of what he should have gotten was $1,000,000. He took what was given to him and started working. The truth behind what Tesla’s real plan was a very large scale electrical power transmission without wires. sadly this was a very bad mistake on Nikola’s part.
Tesla’s building place was on the rocky overhang of Long Island in new york city. It was known to be called “Wardenclyffe.” Around 1901 the “Wardenclyffe” project was being constructed, but the challenging part of this was the tower is about 187 feet tall and was supporting on its top a 55 ton sphere made of steel. Under the tower was a well like, wide hole that went 120 feet into the ground. Sixteen giant iron pipes were drilled a sum of 400 feet in to the ground so the power of the earth could pass strait through them and grab hold of the groung. Nikola said that: "In this system that I have invented, it is necessary for the machine to get a grip of the earth, otherwise it cannot shake the earth. It has to have a grip... so that the whole of this globe can quiver." As the tower he was slowly being built became closer to being finished. The price of the pieces became slowly increase. It became hard to funds to meet the needs of this tower.
Then when came December 12, 1901, the world was moved to hear that Marconi had sent a radio signal across Europe. The sad part of this is the man who did this used seventeen of Tesla’s patents to send that signal. Morgan could not wait any longer for this “world power” to be done, and was running out of money to put in. Tesla begged Morgan for more financial support, but the funder soundly refused. After this Tesla’s life and work went on a strange and life changing turn...for the worse...
Trying to make peace.
As a young boy Nikola would hear his father talk about his deep hatred of war. Not a point in his life did he feel different from his father. When making technology he tired to never use it for war. Then one day looking out a window from his house in New York, he thought of a way to make a device to end all wars. He said once that he thought it was a "a mere spectacle of machines."
Well in 1931 at a press conference he announced to the world that he discover a new source of energy. When people there asked for him to explain what it was, he replied back with, "The idea first came upon me as a tremendous shock... I can only say at this time that it will come from an entirely new and unsuspected source." World War II was coming closer in the dimming Europe. Then on July 11 ,1934 the new york times front page headline read, "TESLA, AT 78, BARES NEW 'DEATH BEAM.'" This article stated that he’d made something that no one had ever seen. It read "will send concentrated beams of particles through the free air, of such tremendous energy that they will bring down a fleet of 10,000 enemy airplanes at a distance of 250 miles..." Tesla stated that it’d make a "invisible Chinese wall” and make war impossible .
Most everyone thought the whole idea of having a "invisible Chinese wall" was crazy and would never work. Tesla being convinced, went strait to J. P. Morgan and asked for finances to build a prototype of his “peace ray”. Morgan told Tesla it wouldn’t work and he wouldn’t give him any financing. Nikola also tried to strike a deal with the Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain of Great Britain. But sadly Chamberlain resigned upon discovering that he had been politically flanked by Hitler at Munich. Soon after most people stopped caring about Tesla's anti-war weapon all together.
In the 1937’s it was very clear war was soon to bust free and rain death on Europe. Mad at himself because of his failed attempts to make people notice his “peace ray”, he wrote a mathematically intense paper with odd pictures, to a few of friendly nations such as the United States such as Canada, England, France, the Soviet Union, and Yugoslavia. Titled: "New Art of Projecting Concentrated Non-Dispersive Energy Through Natural Media." This paper was the first ever description of what we call today a charged particle beam weapon. The thing that set Tesla’s “death ray” apart from other fantasies was that his was a vacuum chamber with one end open to the sky. Tesla said that it used high pressured air vacuum sealed by directing a very fast air stream at the tip of his gun to maintain "high speeds." The fast and large pumping movement would be compensated by a motor that Tesla made just for this. The only nation that got back to him was the Soviet Union, and was even interested. On 1937 Tesla Showed the plans of to the Amtorg Trading Corporation, an alleged Soviet arms dealer, located in New York City. A few years later, on 1939, one hole stage of his plan was tested in the USSR and Tesla received a check for about $25,000.
Tesla’s only hope is that his “death ray” or “peace ray” would be used for Only defensive means, and just would become the first in history, “anti war machine.” His plan was that his death ray would use three or four power plants along the cost of an ocean and then plains would fly over they would be shot down with ease. Tesla also thought about how his “peace ray”, could become a transmitting device that could send power without wires over very long distances. Whatever Tesla was really thinking was never really taken into great thought.
A penniless death.
On the dark and frozen night on January 7, 1943, a sick, lonely, man named Nikola Tesla died a penniless death. I ironically throughout his life he had made over $100,000,000,000,000 with not five dollars to his name. A few months before his death a man came to see him from a newspaper company asking for an interview, the only thing he said to him was “I don’t want to speak with anyone, but I have one thing to ask of you, please go see my dear friend J. P. Morgan. And tell him I sent you young man. Tell him that I would Like to know when he’s ready to change the world. Now please leave me be, young man.” To this day it is his genius that made the 20th century as great as it it. What I hope to see is a child of my own someday reading about Tesla in history class, because that is what he deserves.
How’d it go?
The first time I was introduced to Nikola Tesla was in a movie called the *Prestige. The movie is about magicians in the late 1800’s and Tesla was a main character. So after I watched the movie I had to know: who was this amazing man was? So I looked him up online and found some pretty cool stuff about him, like how Nikola Tesla was born in Smiljan, Austrian Empire, on the10th July 1856. As a young boy he dreamed of coming over to American and harnessing the power of Niagara Falls. At a early age he was afflicted with illness constantly. One in particular was a strange illness where Tesla would see spots of flashing lights in front of his eyes. And that he had over 800 Patents and had died penniless on the year of January 7, 1943. Also some small things like at the start of World War I, Tesla proposed the use of energy waves to detect German submarines (known today as RADAR). Thomas Edison said no to the Telsa’s idea, calling it “ludicrous.” And prehaps the strangest: Nikola only needed three to four hours of sleep daily.
(Feb 5. Thursday. 2012)
Personally I’m really having an amazing time working on my research, I really like my topic. I think that how he lived and didn’t really have a relationship with anyone throughout his life is pretty cool and very interesting. I’ve learned a lot about his life, all of his patents such as “Dynamo Electric Machine” and Alternating-Current Motor that was made in france when he was a young man. Now that I know about advanced searching on Google I can now find better and more reliable sites to research on.
I really like how my I search is going I can’t wait to see it when it’s done.
(Feb 16. Monday. 2012)
My research and writing note cards is going and I’m really liking it so fare I never knew anything about how he wanted to make a giant tesla coil and wanted to send electrical currents into the air so people could take freely from it. When I read this it amazed me because I’m a very big science fiction nerd, so It kind blew my mind apart. Oher then this I’m doing very well I have about 13 to 16ish note cards and there still going. I can’t wait to see my I search when it is done.
(Feb 23. Monday. 2012)
I’ve already done my interview and it only took 30 minutes. When I first started I got a little lost then when I found his office he had to go to a meeting, but after the fact it went very well. I interviewed Dr. Luck he’s a professor at the USM right in Gorham. He was very useful and gave me a lot of information. Some information he told me was that Thomas Edison’s company still stands to this day it’s “GE” which I never knew. Over break I’m plaining to work on all my note cards it’s going to get me ahead of the game! But besides this I’m pretty stocked to see it when it’s all done and Pretty looking.
(Mar 5. Monday. 2012)
My Interview was great, It was with a professor named Dr. Luck. It went on for about 30 Minutes and he gave me a wealth of knowledge about Nikola Tesla and the electrical engineering side of his work. Over feb. v-k I din’t really do to much for my I search. How i’m laying out my I search is i’ll start with his young age and go through his life and tell how he died, when, and tell about the crazy things he made and talk about the war of the currents the death ray or the peace ray he made. then I’ll talk about his paper things and the FBI in 1949 So right now I’m in about the 1901’s, Still there is a lot of very interesting things in this time. Like about the death ray or as he called it the “peace ray.” And all the other “weapons of war” he’s made. The writing isn’t the hard part for me, the Intro was some what difficult for me because I wanted to pull people in but I had to make it 500 words.
Citations
Web sites.
I: Website: Bogdan R. Kosanovic.“The Serbian-American inventor” electrical engineer, and scientist. USM.Edu, Web. 29December. 2001.
II: Website:Tesla himself. “THE STRANGE LIFE OF TESLA.” The Strange Serbian man. John Roland Hans Penner Fri.15 Jan. 1996.
III: Website: Head Website Editor: Dr. Ljubo Vujovic. “Tesla Memorial Society of New York” New york society december.1.2007.
Interview 1: Jacob clark, Ima. Dr. Luck. 14 march, 2012.
Databases
I: Database Article: Richard M. McMahan “The strange life of nikola tesla.” The life of Nikola tesla. (2001): 42-71. web. 16 feb 2007.
II: Database Article:Andrew O. Sharpe “A bio on nikola tesla.” The truth on nikola tesla. (1995): 25-61. web. 9. Nov. 2004.
III: Database Article: Byron K. Morris “War of the currents.”Jp morgan and tesla. (1981): 50-88. web. 5. Oct. 2002.
IV: Database Article: Marc C. Longino. “Alternating current.”The man that did it all. (2004): 60-72. web. 18.Sep. 2004
Josie Tierney-Fife
English 9 Standard
20 march 2012.
THE STRANGE AND ODD LIFE OF NIKOLA TESLA.
On December 12, 1901, the world was awoken to the news that Guglielmo Marconi (“the man that invented the radio”) had signaled the letter "S" across the Atlantic from Cornwall, England to Newfoundland and back again, because of this event that had taken place, J.P. Morgan, who had been paying for his projects, stopped funding Tesla all together. This was the worst thing that could have happened, in fact at the time Tesla was certain that he could create a electrical power transmission without wires. This project, called “The world system”, Tesla explained would be able to send up electrical currents to earth’s atmosphere and then circle the earth with a thick layer of electrical power, in which anyone could take electricity freely without harm or trouble. Before he could test this on a full scale it was shut down. Put to shame and vanquished, Tesla had a few nervous breakdowns. He stated "It is not a dream." He promised "It is a simple feat of scientific electrical engineering, only expensive... blind, faint-hearted, doubting world."As a boy Tesla lived in a small black house in Serbia on a very vast plain near the mountains. At age 9 he climbed up on the edge of the barn's roof with wooden bird wings that were tied to his small arms. Upon jumping off and attempting to fly, he landed and almost broke an arm, and his legs. When his mother saw from the house she ran out, picked him out and took him off to bed.
Childhood obsession
Nikola was born at precisely midnight between July 9th and 10th in the 1856. Nikola’s father was a Serbian Orthodox Priest and Tesla’s mother was a farmer. Nikola was the fourth child out of all five that his parents had together. Growing up on the family farm, his father discouraged Nikola from reading as a child. At age six he constructed a small waterwheel which strangely was nothing like waterwheels of that day in age in 1862. The same waterwheel, he later looked back on and used as a inspiration for his “unique blade-less turbine design.” He also worked on many other strange prototypes of machines such as another one he built which was a june bug powered motor. Some nights he enjoyed sneaking into his fathers library to read books. In 1863 he discovered a book that would forever change his life, this book was called Abafi or Son of Aba. He later talked about this book with a fellow colleague, Tesla stated that the book somehow awoke him and gave him self-control. A basic thing he started with was for example, if he had an item of food that he wanted badly such as a candy bar, he would give it away to someone else. After doing this and working your way up to more important things, you could gain a great deal of self control. As he described “After some years of that discipline, I completely controlled myself so that I could play with the passions that might destroy even the strongest man”
Daniel his older brother, who died in a horse accident was the Tesla family favorite. Nikola was always compared to Daniel by his family. Nikola also suffered from nightmares and hallucinations that had to do with the death of his brother Daniel. Some scholars believe Nikola’s phobias and obsessions are a direct result of Daniel’s death. Through his life he was obsessed with many things such as earrings, mostly pearls. glitter Jewelry and sharp-planed facets also intrigued him. When walking he always counted his steps. He oddly tried to cube the contents of his food, When he failed to do this he was not able to enjoy the meal. He never touched other peoples hair or shook hands with any one. Some scholars believe he had a very strange case of OCD (Obsessive–compulsive disorder).
Tesla mentioned at a young age that he began to have odd visions. In one such vision he got a vigorous headache and saw blurry pictures of a great water fall plummeting down over rocks and that made a considerable amount of mist. After a few seconds he fell to the ground and passed out. This in fact happened on several other occasions. He had said that he had many other visions that had to do with strange things and odd people, but never really stated anything else.
Becoming a man of science.
Tesla began his college education at Graz Polytechnic Institutes in1875. The one topic that fascinated him above all others was electricity. He was an astoundingly stunning student who regularly angered his professors by questioning their intelligence. He went against the acceptance of his class mates and even the college, because they were in favor of using direct current (DC) as the means of delivering electrical power. It was easy for him to see that (DC) was inefficient and incapable and that it left much to be desired. (DC) transmits power over short distances, and Tesla knew there had to be a better way of transmitting power. In France at that time there was talk of an unproven"alternating current (AC)" system, but no one had been able to figure out how to make it work. (AC) was frowned upon as a discouraging topic by the scientific field at that time. Tesla's suggestion of alternating current brought contempt in his lecture halls, but he was never lead off the path or discouraged enough to quit on (AC). In Tesla's mid sophomore year of college, his father had a very serious stroke. Nikola returned home quickly, and his father died soon after. Tesla never returned to the Polytechnic Institute after. Not having any funds for tuition, he took a job at a government telegraphing office. Although Tesla lost faith because of his interrupted education, he kept the his dream of becoming an electrical pioneer alive.
While Tesla was dealing with the depressing fact of his fathers death and his lack of proper education, he was also contemplating alternating current (AC). Whatever its cause, when Tesla finally emerged from the sad and depressing state he was in, he was armed with a powerful new awareness on how alternating current “AC” could be successfully gained and used. Armed with this great knowledge Tesla went to Paris France and began working at “la Société Edison Electric” in 1882. That very year he discovered the rotating magnetic field witch was one of the greatest discoveries in history. On a chilly day in February, 1882, Nikola Tesla was with a friend walking through a city park in in the city of Budapest in Hungary. It was getting late and the sun was setting. When he suddenly saw the solution for the rotating magnetic field flash through his mind. He said “At this very moment, he saw clearly in his mind an iron rotor spinning rapidly in a rotating magnetic field, produced by the interaction of two alternating currents out of step with each other.” This “flash of genius” became the first induction motor. The summer of 1883, Tesla was working in Strasburg in France, where he built his first actual induction motor and saw it run. Tesla's AC (alternating current) induction motor is widely used throughout the world in industry and household appliances such as drills, any type of mixers, early types of cars, small toys, and fans, the list of things that the induction motor is in. could go on for ever. When Tesla invented the Induction motor he was working for Charles Batchelor. Soon there after Batchelor got a letter from Thomas Edison himself, saying that Tesla was invited to come and work at the Edison Company in America. Once Tesla arrived in America Edison had him begin working 10:30 am to 5:00 am the next morning, seven days a week. Tesla did not believe in Edison's direct current (DC) power or his motors, but he worked hard to improve them. When Tesla came over to America he was sent with a small letter that Charles Bathchelor wrote, it read “I know two great men, one is you and the other is this young man.” when Tesla came to work for Edison, he told Tesla if he could improve his machines, that he would give him a bonus of $50,000. Tesla worked through day and night because the $50,000 would let him set up his own lab, so he could work on the machines that he lived for. He came up with twenty-four new designs to replace the old ones of Edition's. Edison was amazed with the results but did not pay Tesla the $50,000 he had promised. When Tesla finally asked him about it, Edison told him, "Tesla, you don't understand our American humor." This is when and why Tesla left the Edison Company.
War of the currents.
A Pittsburgh industrialist named George Westinghouse, who was the inventor of railroad air brakes. had heard about Tesla's inventions and how he had wanted to use alternating current and thought it could be the missing thing that long-distance power needed. On the night of 1890 George Westinghouse rode to Tesla’s home and gave him an offer, He stated he would purchase all of Tesla’s patents to date for $60,000. Westinghouse also agreed to pay $2.50 per horsepower of electrical volume sold. Tesla had more inventions in mind, so he quickly spent half of the money on a new laboratory.
With Tesla's great work and patents, a giant industrial war had flared up. The future of electrical engineering and industrial evolution was at stake. Whether Nikola’s alternating current (AC) or Edison's direct current (DC) would be the chosen one.
Edison at this time launched a propaganda war against alternating current. Westinghouse recalled: “I remember Edison telling them that direct current was like a river flowing peacefully to the sea, while alternating current was like a torrent rushing violently over a precipice.” Edison even had a professor named Harold Brown working for him, he went around talking to audiences of people and electrocuting dogs and old horses right infornt of crowds of people on a stage. His reasons was to show the dangers of alternating current (AC).
Meanwhile, a 40 year old man was being convicted of murder and was going to be the the first person executed with electricity in history. This was to take place at New York's Auburn State Prison. Edison had successfully purchased a used Westinghouse generator and convinced the prison to use it in order to show the extreme danger of alternating current. The man William Kemmler, a convicted ax-murderer, died a horrible death on August 6, 1890 from electrical shock. Because of this, electrical execution became known as "Westinghousing."
In spite of bad of bad press, good things were occurring for Westinghouse and Tesla. Westinghouse and Tesla got the chances to light The Chicago World's Fair. This was the first fair powered by electricity. This fair was also named “the Columbian Exposition” In celebration of Columbus discovering America.
The Columbian Exposition opened on May 1, 1893 President Grover Cleveland pulled a lever and hundreds of thousands of lamps lit the fairground's. “This City of Light was the work of the great electrical engineer... Nikola Tesla!” said President Grover Cleveland to the enormous crowds of people. In the Great Hall of Electricity, Tesla’s alternating current (AC) power generation and transmission were cheerfully displayed. For the twenty seven million people who came to the fair, it was clear that (AC) was the power of the future. AThat point on 80 percent of all electrical devices made or manufactured in the United States used alternating current (AC.)
The great power of Niagara.
When settlers first came to America, the pioneers had a dream of turning Niagara falls into a working power mill but never did. The earliest sawmill had been constructed there in 1725. Since Tesla’s childhood, he had dreamed of harnessing the capability of the great water fall. And near the end of 1893, his fantasy became real, when Westinghouse was given the honor to create an electrical mill.
The Niagara Falls project got charged with planning the power project, at that time the Niagara falls project planner got offers from all around the world only to reject them all. They ranged from different systems using odd types of water pressure, to one that used ropes and pulleys and others using springs. There were also offers to transmit DC electricity, which were presented by Edison himself. At the head of the team was Lord Kelvin. A very famous physicist from England, who had disliked alternating current (AC). But when he had gone to the Chicago Exposition that had all changed. Now that they had a strong team to make people want to build with alternating current (AC), Kelvin and the Niagara falls project asked Tesla and Westinghouse to use alternating current to harness the power of the falls.
When the construction period was happening it was very stressful for the engineers, mechanics and workers building it. Because of them leaning mostly on investors they had a lot of money to go around. The men backing this Project included many of the wealthiest men in America and Europe at this time,some of which were: J. P. Morgan, John Jacob Astor, Lord Rothschild, and W. K. Vanderbilt. After five year stress, the project finally was completed. Tesla did not have one bit of uncertainty in the results of the final completed dam for a moment. The men that were investing did not think at all that the system would work. While Tesla knew the machines were running smoothly, they were still unproven and very expensive.
In spite of the worries of the investors the growth of Tesla’s work grow greater. As the switch was flicked on the turbines beganto roar, soon after the first power coming out of Niagara Falls dam reached Buffalo at 12:27 Am, November 16, 1896. The Niagara Falls Gazette recalled the day after this saying, "The turning of a switch in the big powerhouse at Niagara completed a circuit which caused the Niagara River to flow uphill." The first 1,000 horsepower of electrical voltage moving to Buffalo was used by the street railway company. The local power company already had orders from residents for five thousand more horsepower. In a short amount of time the number of Niagara Falls power generators had quickly reached the planned ten, and a large amount of power lines were lighting the streets of New York City. Broadway street was aflame with lights; the under ground railways were moving faster then ever. Edison’s (DC) systems was quickly changed to alternating current. (AC)
The “war of currents” as it was called, had dire consequences for Westinghouse and General Electric, both were in horrible debt. The Edison Company “General Electric” bought out Westinghouse and saved both companies from financial ruin. A man named Robber Barons, was becoming known in the USA and was starting to become big, so J. P. Morgan made his move and became partners Barons. Hoping to bring more hydroelectric power planets to the U.S., J. P. Morgan planned to try and buy Westinghouse and Tesla’s patents. But thanks in part to Tesla, this did not happen.
Westinghouse was facing huge financial burdens at this time and therefore was forced to ask Tesla to release him from his obligation of $2.50 for every horsepower created with (AC). In a rather kind way Tesla tore up the contract and said that he was, after all, very grateful to the one man who had believed in his invention. Tesla also knew that great inventions would lay ahead. The Westinghouse Electric Company split away from GE and went back to work. From this point on Tesla would face financial difficulties until his death.
Strange times.
At the turn of the 20th century Tesla thought he could transfer large amounts of electricity into the air. His patent lawyer, and a close friend, Leonard E. Curtis, who was very interested in Tesla’s work wanted to see this happen. So he happily found land that Tesla could work on, and deiced to supply a large amount of a steady stream enginery for the research for Tesla. The plot of land was located in Colorado Springs. Meanwhile a supporter of Tesla and his inventions, Colonel Astor, came forward and gave $30,000 to kick start to the project. This was what Tesla needed, he moved to Colorado and begin building a new experimental station for the secret project. This station was located on Pikes Peak. Joining Tesla in this electrical engineering adventure were a dozen assistants which weren’t totally informed of the Tesla’s plans.
He Arrived in the little town of Colorado Springs in May 1899, Tesla went to inspect the land mass and how large it would be. It was a few miles out of town in the prairie, on top of a large hill with a rocks and a wooded area. He told reporters that he was plaining to send a radio signal with the words (a better world), from his lab at Pikes Peak all the way to Paris France, but did not state any thing else. Soon after Tesla found that the earth to be quite alive with electrical pluses. Because of this Nikola came to believe that when a current, such as lightning, strikes the ground it puts out powerful waves that move from one side of the earth to the other. In other terms he thought that the earth was a great conductor, Tesla’s hypothesis was that he could transmit unlimited amounts of power into the air or pretty much any other place on the earth and people could take it with out no loss in power. To test his theory about this he’d be the first man to ever create electrical currents with full scale man made lighting.
His laboratory, that had more then three floors, with one floor just for wires, was very strange looking and also weird, a roundish roof that was made to prevent it from catching fire, and a very large wooden tower that was eighty feet or more in height. At the top of all of this madness was 142 foot metal mast that was supporting a very large copper ball. Inside this was one of the largest Tesla Coils ever made, it was designed to send large amounts of powerful electrical pulses into the earth. To top it off the copper ball sat gleaming at the top of the building.
On the night of the first experiment each of piece of work tools were slowly checked for anything that was wrong. Then Tesla went and fetched his mechanic, Czito, then mechanic would pull the lever for only one second. The secondary coil from across the room began to spark, and blue lighting erupted and wavy lights formed in the air around it. Tesla became very pleased with the result he’d gotten.
He told Czito to pull the lever down until told otherwise, then after a few minutes he’d turn it back on, as soon as this happen huge arcs of blue electricity shot out of all the coils in the room. Upon the top of the station giant lightning bolts of man made lightning more than a hundred feet long had shot out from the copper ball at the top of the lab. The experiment
had burned out the El Paso Electric Company and made the whole city lose power. The manager of the power station was very angry, and told Tesla that he’d have to pay for and repairs and the damages had to be fixed.
For the next nine months Tesla kept doing experiments at Colorado Springs. He also had kept a daily diary on the facts and things that he’d been doing there and at that time. Also the diary was written in great detail. Although the experiments and their results of the testing have never been answered. So there is still one question floating around out there: Did Tesla actually transmit wireless power at Pikes Peak? Well...there was a report that one night he transmitted a signal of power a very long way, about 40 miles. This was so powerful that the light from it would have been visibly for 6 miles.
Another power source that Tesla pursued was to send off very low frequency signals between the surface of the earth and the ionosphere or space . Tesla said that the frequency of this area was around eight-hertz. Until the late 1950s this “idea” was never really taken seriously, but some researchers had tired a few times. To researcher’s surprise the frequency of this layer was truthfully the range of eight-hertz.
The third thing he wanted to do was transmit wireless power such as electrical power, and shoot it up 80-kilometers above the earth, this area is known as the ionosphere. Tesla thought that the higher region of the atmosphere would be highly conductive for electrical power, he was correct. What he needed was the means to send electrical power to such a high altitude.
One very late night in his laboratory, alone writing plans, Tesla start to pick up a very slow repeating signal then it started to gain speed, he thought it was picking up an signal from space, specifically Mars or an alien race from an odd planet. Tesla was sadly laughed at the public when he announced this discovery, but it is very possible that he was the very first man to ever to detect radio waves from space.
A large amount of mystery still hangs over Tesla's trip to Colorado Springs. From his notes its not clear what how he wanted to exactly transmit wireless power. It is very clear from news letters and papers that when he came back to New York City, he was sure he could make it happen.
A tower of a visionary man.
As soon as Tesla had got back from Colorado Springs he wrote an amazing article for Century Magazine. In the article he wrote weirdly, talking about tapping into the sun's energy with an antenna. He stated that it was very possible to control the weather currents with electrical energy. He said that he thought about machines in the later years of humanity, that would make war with people. Saying that we’d have a global system of wireless communications. Most people that read this article said it to be unimaginable, but Tesla was a man who could not be underrated.
This strange and odd article got to the eyes of a very powerful man, J. P. Morgan. Tesla became a frequent guest at Morgan's home in New York, where Tesla told him about things that could only be science fiction. Such as something Tesla called "world system", “a way to send wireless communications across the ocean. Something to broadcast news, music, stock market reports, private messages, and even pictures to any part of the world you chose to send it too. "When wireless is fully applied, the earth will be converted into a huge brain, capable of response in every one of its parts," Tesla stated to J. P. Morgan
Tesla was offered $150,000 to build a large broadcast tower and a power plant. Even though a realistic sum of what he should have gotten was $1,000,000. He took what was given to him and started working. The truth behind what Tesla’s real plan was a very large scale electrical power transmission without wires. sadly this was a very bad mistake on Nikola’s part.
Tesla’s building place was on the rocky overhang of Long Island in new york city. It was known to be called “Wardenclyffe.” Around 1901 the “Wardenclyffe” project was being constructed, but the challenging part of this was the tower is about 187 feet tall and was supporting on its top a 55 ton sphere made of steel. Under the tower was a well like, wide hole that went 120 feet into the ground. Sixteen giant iron pipes were drilled a sum of 400 feet in to the ground so the power of the earth could pass strait through them and grab hold of the groung. Nikola said that: "In this system that I have invented, it is necessary for the machine to get a grip of the earth, otherwise it cannot shake the earth. It has to have a grip... so that the whole of this globe can quiver." As the tower he was slowly being built became closer to being finished. The price of the pieces became slowly increase. It became hard to funds to meet the needs of this tower.
Then when came December 12, 1901, the world was moved to hear that Marconi had sent a radio signal across Europe. The sad part of this is the man who did this used seventeen of Tesla’s patents to send that signal. Morgan could not wait any longer for this “world power” to be done, and was running out of money to put in. Tesla begged Morgan for more financial support, but the funder soundly refused. After this Tesla’s life and work went on a strange and life changing turn...for the worse...
Trying to make peace.
As a young boy Nikola would hear his father talk about his deep hatred of war. Not a point in his life did he feel different from his father. When making technology he tired to never use it for war. Then one day looking out a window from his house in New York, he thought of a way to make a device to end all wars. He said once that he thought it was a "a mere spectacle of machines."
Well in 1931 at a press conference he announced to the world that he discover a new source of energy. When people there asked for him to explain what it was, he replied back with, "The idea first came upon me as a tremendous shock... I can only say at this time that it will come from an entirely new and unsuspected source." World War II was coming closer in the dimming Europe. Then on July 11 ,1934 the new york times front page headline read, "TESLA, AT 78, BARES NEW 'DEATH BEAM.'" This article stated that he’d made something that no one had ever seen. It read "will send concentrated beams of particles through the free air, of such tremendous energy that they will bring down a fleet of 10,000 enemy airplanes at a distance of 250 miles..." Tesla stated that it’d make a "invisible Chinese wall” and make war impossible .
Most everyone thought the whole idea of having a "invisible Chinese wall" was crazy and would never work. Tesla being convinced, went strait to J. P. Morgan and asked for finances to build a prototype of his “peace ray”. Morgan told Tesla it wouldn’t work and he wouldn’t give him any financing. Nikola also tried to strike a deal with the Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain of Great Britain. But sadly Chamberlain resigned upon discovering that he had been politically flanked by Hitler at Munich. Soon after most people stopped caring about Tesla's anti-war weapon all together.
In the 1937’s it was very clear war was soon to bust free and rain death on Europe. Mad at himself because of his failed attempts to make people notice his “peace ray”, he wrote a mathematically intense paper with odd pictures, to a few of friendly nations such as the United States such as Canada, England, France, the Soviet Union, and Yugoslavia. Titled: "New Art of Projecting Concentrated Non-Dispersive Energy Through Natural Media." This paper was the first ever description of what we call today a charged particle beam weapon. The thing that set Tesla’s “death ray” apart from other fantasies was that his was a vacuum chamber with one end open to the sky. Tesla said that it used high pressured air vacuum sealed by directing a very fast air stream at the tip of his gun to maintain "high speeds." The fast and large pumping movement would be compensated by a motor that Tesla made just for this. The only nation that got back to him was the Soviet Union, and was even interested. On 1937 Tesla Showed the plans of to the Amtorg Trading Corporation, an alleged Soviet arms dealer, located in New York City. A few years later, on 1939, one hole stage of his plan was tested in the USSR and Tesla received a check for about $25,000.
Tesla’s only hope is that his “death ray” or “peace ray” would be used for Only defensive means, and just would become the first in history, “anti war machine.” His plan was that his death ray would use three or four power plants along the cost of an ocean and then plains would fly over they would be shot down with ease. Tesla also thought about how his “peace ray”, could become a transmitting device that could send power without wires over very long distances. Whatever Tesla was really thinking was never really taken into great thought.
A penniless death.
On the dark and frozen night on January 7, 1943, a sick, lonely, man named Nikola Tesla died a penniless death. I ironically throughout his life he had made over $100,000,000,000,000 with not five dollars to his name. A few months before his death a man came to see him from a newspaper company asking for an interview, the only thing he said to him was “I don’t want to speak with anyone, but I have one thing to ask of you, please go see my dear friend J. P. Morgan. And tell him I sent you young man. Tell him that I would Like to know when he’s ready to change the world. Now please leave me be, young man.” To this day it is his genius that made the 20th century as great as it it. What I hope to see is a child of my own someday reading about Tesla in history class, because that is what he deserves.
How’d it go?
The first time I was introduced to Nikola Tesla was in a movie called the *Prestige. The movie is about magicians in the late 1800’s and Tesla was a main character. So after I watched the movie I had to know: who was this amazing man was? So I looked him up online and found some pretty cool stuff about him, like how Nikola Tesla was born in Smiljan, Austrian Empire, on the10th July 1856. As a young boy he dreamed of coming over to American and harnessing the power of Niagara Falls. At a early age he was afflicted with illness constantly. One in particular was a strange illness where Tesla would see spots of flashing lights in front of his eyes. And that he had over 800 Patents and had died penniless on the year of January 7, 1943. Also some small things like at the start of World War I, Tesla proposed the use of energy waves to detect German submarines (known today as RADAR). Thomas Edison said no to the Telsa’s idea, calling it “ludicrous.” And prehaps the strangest: Nikola only needed three to four hours of sleep daily.
(Feb 5. Thursday. 2012)
Personally I’m really having an amazing time working on my research, I really like my topic. I think that how he lived and didn’t really have a relationship with anyone throughout his life is pretty cool and very interesting. I’ve learned a lot about his life, all of his patents such as “Dynamo Electric Machine” and Alternating-Current Motor that was made in france when he was a young man. Now that I know about advanced searching on Google I can now find better and more reliable sites to research on.
I really like how my I search is going I can’t wait to see it when it’s done.
(Feb 16. Monday. 2012)
My research and writing note cards is going and I’m really liking it so fare I never knew anything about how he wanted to make a giant tesla coil and wanted to send electrical currents into the air so people could take freely from it. When I read this it amazed me because I’m a very big science fiction nerd, so It kind blew my mind apart. Oher then this I’m doing very well I have about 13 to 16ish note cards and there still going. I can’t wait to see my I search when it is done.
(Feb 23. Monday. 2012)
I’ve already done my interview and it only took 30 minutes. When I first started I got a little lost then when I found his office he had to go to a meeting, but after the fact it went very well. I interviewed Dr. Luck he’s a professor at the USM right in Gorham. He was very useful and gave me a lot of information. Some information he told me was that Thomas Edison’s company still stands to this day it’s “GE” which I never knew. Over break I’m plaining to work on all my note cards it’s going to get me ahead of the game! But besides this I’m pretty stocked to see it when it’s all done and Pretty looking.
(Mar 5. Monday. 2012)
My Interview was great, It was with a professor named Dr. Luck. It went on for about 30 Minutes and he gave me a wealth of knowledge about Nikola Tesla and the electrical engineering side of his work. Over feb. v-k I din’t really do to much for my I search. How i’m laying out my I search is i’ll start with his young age and go through his life and tell how he died, when, and tell about the crazy things he made and talk about the war of the currents the death ray or the peace ray he made. then I’ll talk about his paper things and the FBI in 1949 So right now I’m in about the 1901’s, Still there is a lot of very interesting things in this time. Like about the death ray or as he called it the “peace ray.” And all the other “weapons of war” he’s made. The writing isn’t the hard part for me, the Intro was some what difficult for me because I wanted to pull people in but I had to make it 500 words.
Citations
Web sites.
I: Website: Bogdan R. Kosanovic.“The Serbian-American inventor” electrical engineer, and scientist. USM.Edu, Web. 29December. 2001.
II: Website:Tesla himself. “THE STRANGE LIFE OF TESLA.” The Strange Serbian man. John Roland Hans Penner Fri.15 Jan. 1996.
III: Website: Head Website Editor: Dr. Ljubo Vujovic. “Tesla Memorial Society of New York” New york society december.1.2007.
Interview 1: Jacob clark, Ima. Dr. Luck. 14 march, 2012.
Databases
I: Database Article: Richard M. McMahan “The strange life of nikola tesla.” The life of Nikola tesla. (2001): 42-71. web. 16 feb 2007.
II: Database Article:Andrew O. Sharpe “A bio on nikola tesla.” The truth on nikola tesla. (1995): 25-61. web. 9. Nov. 2004.
III: Database Article: Byron K. Morris “War of the currents.”Jp morgan and tesla. (1981): 50-88. web. 5. Oct. 2002.
IV: Database Article: Marc C. Longino. “Alternating current.”The man that did it all. (2004): 60-72. web. 18.Sep. 2004